Fishing report Far South Coast NSW | July 12

The fishing report from the Narooma, Bermagui, Moruya areas: leatherjackets plague the island but some rare mid-winter kingfish caught.

Fishing report Far South Coast NSW | July 12

WINTER KINGS: These clients on board Playstation were stoked to get seven winter kingfish last week, with the fish taking poppers, jigs and trolled lures.

BERMI BLUEFIN: Leon Greiner with a nice bluefin tuna caught straight out in front of Bermagui on Friday. Remember its one bluefin per person these days!

BEACH GUMMY: Stacey Kellett of Mystery Bay got her biggest land-based gummy shark fishing the full moon over the weekend. She used a large strip of squid as bait and thanked her “beach deckie” Glen Carver for his assistance.

SMALL FRY: Cody Eddie of Mystery Bay with one of the smaller salmon making a run on beaches south of Narooma. Fishing the top of the tide in the evening is key.

Leatherjackets, or green toads as others suspect, are still wreaking havoc, biting through lines off Narooma, around Montague Island and to the north, according to recent reports. One local Narooma fisherman tried all around Montague Island getting bitten off multiple times.

The leatherjacket situation sounds better to the south with snapper fishing remaining a great option at the Four and Six-Mile reefs off Bermagui with afternoon sessions producing the goods. Others did well deep dropping with some good sized blue eye and ling, according to Bermi Bait & Tackle. Big sand flathead were caught by some anglers inside the Four-Mile Reef too.

Tuna fishing has slowed in recent days but there will still bluefin straight off Bermagui and to the south at Tathra, with fish up to 115kg. Interestingly, the kingfish made a welcomed appearance back at Montague Island with Charter Fish Narooma clients getting seven nice kingfish on Friday, mainly on the surface including poppers and some on jigs – good to see in the middle of winter!

The boys at the Narooma Ocean Hut Compleat Angler reckon beach fishing also remains a good option with lots of smaller size salmon, tailor and bream being caught north and south of Narooma. Fishing the top of tide early mornings or late afternoon is key.

Stacey Kellett of Mystery Bay got her biggest land-based gummy shark fishing the full moon over the weekend. She used a large strip of squid as bait and thanked her “beach deckie” Glen Carver for his assistance.

Graham at Tackle World Moruya reports both Snake Flat and the Fourways area in Tuross have been holding some nice winter whiting. Squirt worms have been working well at the moment. Estuary perch are being caught further up stream on most snags using both Zman grubs and Atomic cranks.

Moruya river bridge area is still fishing well for perch using surface lures like Sammy 65s and Sugarpen 70fs, but remember its catch and release for EPs and bass.

The hole in the wall is producing a few bream and leather jacket on mullet fillet. The weedy flats adjacent are also holding some nice bream and the odd flathead.

On the rocks and beaches, drummer are coming in thick off One Tree Point using cunji and peeled prawns as bait. Coila beach and Moruya breakwall are both good areas if targeting salmon and tailor. Off the rocks at Bingi has been producing good numbers of squid.

Offshore, the bluefin are moving around out wide with one Batemans bay local landing a massive 168kg monster. Some snapper and morwong have reportedly been caught in roughly 25m of water just off Moruya. In a little closer is seeing anglers catch a great feed of flathead also.